Method of making bumper guards



April 2, 1940. LYON 2,196,020

METHOD OF MAKING BUMPER GUARDS Filed June 4, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1GEORQE ALBERT LYON A ril 2, A L N 2919mm METHOD OF MAKING BUMPER GUARDSFiled June 4, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 GEORGE ALBERT LYON Patented Apr. 2,1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I 7 2,196,020 i I v I METHOD or MAKINGBUMPER GUARDS George Albert Lyon; Allenhurst, N. J. Application June 4,1938, Serial No. 211,776

' 3 Claims. (01. 29-152) This inventionrelates-to bumper guards orimpact members, and. more particularly to a novel method of makingthesame...

The. usual motor vehicle of the present day is equipped with. front. andrear horizontally dis.-

. posed impact members; or bumpers in order to protect the car from.damage due to: accidental. collision or sudden blows. The horizontalimpact. members. or bumpers; are relatively narrow in width and for thatreason. it has been found that the bumper of another'vehicle or someother objectmayextend. over the bumper thereby rendering the samepartially or completely ineffective.- .For that reason,.a large numberof motor vehicles of the present dayaresalso equipped with .an auxiliaryimpact member. secured to the main v It is a further object of thisinvention to, provide a novelprocess. for manufacturing impact memberswhich renders the manufacturing costs extremely low and which provides aresulting product which. is rugged. and reliable. in use.

It is another and further object of this invention to. providev a novelmethod for forming impact members in which at least one fastening.tongue is pressed or cut from a. central portion of the impact member.and bent rearwardly and downwardly for providing a fastening means fordetachably securing the'impact'member to a supporting member. I e eAnother and still further objectof this invention is to provide a novelmethod 'of making impact members from 'aflatsheet or strip of metalstock.

away to leave an ornamental portion orinsignia ticularity in theappendedclaims. Mylinvention itself, however, both as to; its organization,manner of construction, and method of operation, to-

gether with further objects. and. advantages thereof, may best beunderstood by reference tothe following description taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 isa front view of the lower portion of an automobile equippedwith a horizontal impact member or main bumper bar upon which is mountedan auxiliary impact member or bumper guard;

Figure 2 is an enlarged front elevational View of the auxiliary impactmember or bumper guard .10

shown in Figure. 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged rear elevational view of the bumper guard, asshown in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a plan view of a strip of. sheet metal stock from which theauxiliary impact members or bumper guards are being formed, one stampingin Figure 4 being shown as broken or cut away from the main strip;

Figure 5 is an elevational or side view of the sheet metal stock asshown in Figure 4;

Figure dis a cross-sectional side view of. the auxiliary impact memberor bumper, guard during an. intermediate stage of the. process;

Figure 71s a view similar to Figure 6, showing the finished form of theauxiliary impact memher or bumper guard; and,

Figure 8 is a rear elevational view ofa modified form of my invention. ag

I have shown the lower front portion of an automobile or motor vehicleI0 whichis equipped with a horizontal impact member or main bumper I 5upon which is mounted an auxiliary impact member or bumper guard I2.

The specific nature and character of the auxil iary impact member orbumper guardv I2 may be .seen best in Figures 2 and 3 of. the drawings.Specifically, the auxiliary impact member or bumper guard l2 includes alower body portion l3 and an upstanding upper portion l4 which. includesa pair of downwardly diverging legs [5 0 and 16 which merge into andform a. continuous part of the lower body portion IS. The upper ends ofthe downwardly legs l5 and [6 merge in; to a top or apex. portion IT.

In-o-rder to provide the necessary strength. in the leg portions I5 andNS for withstanding sud.- .den or hard impact blows, the inner and outeredges of each leg I5 and 16 are bent rearwardl'y into a relatively deepinner and outer flangesv I8 .and it. The inner flange l8 of each leg 15and .50 It also extends across the upper portion I! as at 20, andsimilarly the flange I9 of the legs l5 and I6 extends across the upperportion H, as at 2|.

The lower or main body portion 13 of. the. auxiliary impact member. [2shaped to overlie. the

front face of the main bumper bar II, which is convexed in the mannerprovided in substantially all main bumpers of the present day. The mainbody portion I3 is terminated on its lower end by an obliquelyrearwardly and downwardly extending flange 22 which passes directlyunder the main bumper II. Apertures which are preferbly square incross-sectional configuration are provided at 23 for the reception ofthe upper shank portion 24 of the clamping bolt 25.

The outer flange I9 of the legs l5 and I8 extends downwardly at itslower-end to a point below the top edge of the main bumper II, as at 26,an intermediate portion 21 thereof being slotted out for the receptionof the upper part of the main bumper II. The portion 26 on each side ofthe auxiliary impact member [2 thus provide an integral downwardlyextending tooth which passes over the back top edge of the bumper II andlocks the auxiliary impact member II in place at this point.

Extending downwardly from the upper portion of the lower main body partI3 is an integral fastening tongue 28 which is arranged to extend overthe top edge of the main bumper II as at 29 (see Figure 7), thendirectly downwardly, as at 30, to a point just above the lower edge ofthe main bumper II and then obliquely rearwardly and downwardly, as at3|. The oblique lower end portion 3I of the tongue 28 is provided withapertures 32 which are complemental to the apertures 24 in the lowerflange portion 22. From an inspection of Figure 3 of the drawings, itwill be observed that the clamping bolts 25 extend upwardly through theapertures 26 of the flange portion 22, and through the apertures 32 ofthe end portion of the tongue 28 into threaded engagement with clampingnuts 33. By virtue of the downwardly extending teeth 25, the tongue 28,the lower flange 22 and the clamping bolts 25, the auxiliary impactmember i2 is firmly and securely mounted on the main body bumper II.

The novel process by which the impact member shown in Figures 2 and 3 ismade is illustrated in Figures 4 to 7 of the drawings. In Figures 4 and5 a strip of sheet metal stock 34 is shown from which the auxiliaryimpact member I2 is to be out in the manner as illustrated. The firststep of the process includes stamping or cutting a blank 35 from thestrip of metal stock 34 of the shape indicated in Figure 4. The blank 35is substantially the development of the finished auxiliary impact memberI2 shown in Figures 2 and 3. The dash-dot lines shown on the blank atthe extreme right side of Figure 4 indicate the subsequent lines of bendto be carried out in the subsequent steps of the process. As is clearlyshown in Figures 4, two diverging lines of out A and B are made in theupper central portion of the blank to define the legs I5 and I6 and toprovide the tongue 28. A small area of metal, indicated by the referencenumeral 36, is completely cut out of the blank, since that portion isnot needed in the completed tongue 28. During the same operations bywhich the blank 35 itself is cut or stamped and the lines of out A and Bare made, the apertures 23 and 32 are also formed. The next step of theprocess is to press, roll, or otherwise form the flanges I8 and I9 andto shape the tongue 28 into the form shown in Figure 6. This ispreferably done in a single stamping operation. During this samestamping operation, the body part I3 is given its final configurationand the lower obliquely turned body flange portion 22 is also formed.

In the final stage of the process, the tongue 28 is bent over from itsposition as shown in Figure 6 to its position as shown in Figure 7. Theauxiliary impact member l2 may now be given any suitable ornamentalappearance, such as by providing the outer surface thereof with a highpolish. Thereafter, the auxiliary impact member I2 is ready to bemounted on either the front or rear main impact member or bumper of amotor vehicle.

In Figure 8 of the drawings, I have illustrated a modified form of myinvention wherein an ornamental insignia 37 is provided in the spacebetween the two diverging legs I5 and I6. As shown, the ornamentalinsignia 37 has two downwardly converging legs 38 which are connectedtogether at intermediate portions thereof by curved crossmembers 39 and40. The exact nature and character of the insignia 3'! may be variedthrough wide limits without departing from the spirit and scope of thepresent invention.

In making the auxiliary impact member, as shown in Figure 8, two tongues4| and 42 are stamped and pressed from the central portion of the impactmember I2. By making four lines of cut in the central portion oftheimpact member blank instead of two, two tongues 4| and 42 areprovided and simultaneously, the integral central portion 31 is alsoprovided. The portion 43 above the central insignia portion 3'! may becut out if desired. In all other respects, the auxiliary impact memberI2 of Figure 8 is substantially the same as the auxiliary impact memberI2 of Figures 2 and 3 and is mounted on the main bumper II insubstantially the same manner. The integral teeth 26 are hooked over thetop edge of the bumper, and the tongues 4| and 42 are also hooked overthe top edge of the main bumper II. Thereafter, the lower base flange 22is rocked into position under the lower edge of the main bumper I Iuntil the main body portion I3 intimately overlies the front face of thebumper II. Clamping bolts 25 are now passed through the base flange 22and through the lower ends of the tongues M and 42 and the clamping nuts33 are thereafter threaded onto the threaded shanks of the bolts 25thereby securely fastening the impact member I2 on the vehicle bumper II.

From the above description, it will be apparent that I have provided anextraordinarily simple method and means for manufacturing impact membersfrom sheet metal stock. It will, furthermore, be observed that thisnovel process is extremely economical and provides a resulting productwhich is rugged and reliable in use.

While I have shown particular embodiments of my invention, it will, ofcourse, be understood that I do not wish to be limited thereto, and Itherefore contemplate by the appended claims to cover all suchmodifications as fall within the true spirit. and scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. The method of making sheet metal impact members which includesstamping a blank from a piece of sheet metal stock, said blank having anupper triangular section to be formed into an impact portion and a lowerbody section for overlying the front face of a vehicle bumper, making apair of inverted V-shaped cuts in the upper triangular section, therebyto provide two integrally joined diverging legs which merge into saidlower body section, a centrally disposed insignia portion and a pair ofintegral tongues,

thereafter bending the marginal portions of said legs rearwardly to formstiffening flanges and bending said tonguesrearwardly and downwardly inspaced relationship to said body section thereby to provide fasteningarms for hooking over the vehicle bumper and for extension across therear face thereof.

2. The method of making sheet metal impact members which includesstamping a blank from a piece of sheet metal stock, said blank having anupper triangular section to be formed into an impact portion and a lowerbody portion for overlying the front 'face of a vehicle bumper, saidupper triangular section including a pair of downwardly extending wingsat the opposite lower corners thereof, making two diverging lines of cutin the upper triangular section substantially parallel to the outeredges of said section, thereby to provide two integrally joineddiverging legs which merge into said lower body section and whichfurther provide a centrally disposed integral tongue integrally joinedto said lower body ,section, bending the marginal side portions of saidlegs rearwardly to form stiifening flanges, bending the lower marginaledge portion of said lower body section obliquely rearwardly anddownwardly for extension below the vehicle bumper,

, and bending said tongue rearwardly, downwardly through a distanceslightly less than the width of the vehicle bumper, and then obliquelyrearwardly and downwardly, said wings of said blank being adapted tohook over the top of the vehicle bumper and to extend into engagementwith the rear side thereof, and said obliquely rearwardly extendingportions being arranged to be detachablyconnected together for firmlysecuring the impact member to a vehicle bumper.

3. The method of making a sheet metal auxiliary impact member for avehicle bumper which includes stamping out a blank, said blank having anupper section of the general shape of an isosceles triangle and a lowersection extending from the base of said triangle and of the generalshape of a rectangle, the lower corners of the upper section extendingout beyond the ends of the lower section and being cut by the stampingoperation into hooks extending down alongside said lower section, makinga generally inverted V-shaped cut in said upper section substantiallyparallel to the sides thereof to form a flap, bending back the sideedges of said upper section to form an exterior flange terminating atits ends in said hooks, said hooks being thereby swung around in back ofthe plane of saidlower section, simultaneously bending back the inneredges of the portions of said a continuous flange extending around atriangular opening defined by said out and said upper edge of said lowersection, and finally bending said flap down behind saidlower section.

GEORGE ALBERT LYON.

